Marketing, advertising & media intelligence

For many years, Vero has taken a bovine-heavy approach to its advertising. And while Sensation, the company's 1200kg Black Angus bull mascot who burst onto the scene in 2003 when Big launched the brand in New Zealand, features at the end of its new 60 second spot, the company has taken a different, more serious tack in an effort to show that insurance 'is not about things going wrong, it’s about an insurer putting them right'.

When we talked with Vero's marketing and communications manager Ian Walker back in 2012 after Vero won a Glossie award, he said the "unique insurance environment" as a result of the Christchurch earthquakes meant it made a conscious decision to go back to basics and tell consumers about the importance of having insurance—and, more specifically, a rock solid insurance company with plenty of financial backing. At the time, he said the brand needed to work a bit harder, and that necessitated a change in direction.

Big's managing director Ant Salmon says it's a different kind of commercial from those that featured the bull and while it certainly doesn't want Vero to lose its personality or sense of humour, it is "sensitive to the need for advertising that is appropriate given the circumstances still being experienced by many in Canterbury".

"The Christchurch earthquakes did not just change a city; they challenged some of the fundamentals of the insurance industry."

It was also important that they create an ad that wouldn't need to be taken off air if there happened to be a worrying shake in Wellington or Christchurch, so it has "avoided event and resolution clichés and passive assurances" and instead aimed to connect the things Vero does each day with replacement, repair or rebuilding for those who have suffered loss or damage. It also aims to show the value the company delivers as an enabler of business in New Zealand.

"The commercial opens in a Vero office with people going about their work. The physical actions they perform each day are seemingly innocuous but by creating a number of cause and effect scenarios we show the real value of what they do," says Salmon. "Their day-to-day work is connected to a series of situations where Vero’s products and services and claims resolution make things better for Vero’s customers. Importantly, we shot the ad in a Vero office and used Vero's own people as talent."

Vero, which is part of the Suncorp group, is mostly an intermediated seller (it is also the insurance provider for the likes of ANZ and AMP, so Salmon says it's important the brokers it works with are on the same page. And so far he says the ad, which was shot by Wade Shotter of Finch, has been received extremely well by all of Vero's internal stakeholders.

Genesis Energy and .99 followed a similar thematic and visual path with last year's 'We're in it for you'.

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On Monday, Whittaker’s launched its latest novelty chocolate-lolly mash up with a chocolatey answer to retro bakesale treat coconut ice. The Coconut Ice Surprise chocolate has a twist though, 20c from each block goes to Plunket – a charity which New Zealanders agree is a worthy cause. However, to relate the chocolate to the charity, Whittaker's has built the campaign around baby gender reveal parties, causing a backlash from the public who argue gender norms have expanded beyond blue for boys and pink for girls.

Genius From Elsewhere

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With over 10,000 fires occuring in South Korea residential homes every year, Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance has created a flower vase that doubles as a throwable fire extinguisher. The hope is it will raise awareness to the public safety issue of home fire safety.

2

Advertisers have stopped buying ads on YouTube after their ads appeared on children's videos where pedophiles had infiltrated the comment section.The New York Times investigates the comments.

3

The internet has been up in arms about a supposed 'Anti-LGBT' emoji, featuring a rainbow flag alongside the "no" symbol. However, according to Time, the emoji causing offence is actually "an unfortunate implementation of the standards that govern how text is displayed on our device".

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This year, Super Bowl audiences were treated to a 45-second video of Andy Warhol eating a Burger King Whopper. It was certainly a campaign unlike any before, but did it work? Adweek takes a look.

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As of 1 March, Queenslanders will be able to include one of five emojis alongside their licence places. The options—the laughing-crying face, the winking face, the sunglasses face, the heart-eyed face, or the classic smiley face—are courtesy of Personalised Plates Queensland.

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Why we like it: Infomercial-style ads take us right back to the glorious days of old when we were sick – but not too sick – home from school and got the sought-after opportunity to watch daytime TV. There was literally nothing greater in an eight-year-old's life. So for that reason, these ads get a big tick from us. There's humour, and, despite what often happens when radio hosts venture into a visual format, it doesn't miss the mark.

Who's it for: House of Travel by the in-house team

Why we like it: Who doesn't love when brands bring back a break-out star from one of their earlier campaigns? To be completely honest, we didn't recognise Lucy on first glance, but after a quick trip down memory lane, we placed her as Miss Lucy from that singing and dancing retro campaign House of Travel launched more than a decade ago. We like the continuity of this ad and watching a man choke on his drink after a snapback from a woman doesn't hurt either.

Who's it for: Joblist by Badger Communications

Why we like it: Sonia is a dead-set hero. We are introduced to her glamorous, visor-wearing face peering out from behind a freshly-levelled hedge and the next thing we know she's no ordinary arborist. We watch Sonia as she looks into that shrub's soul and reveals the schnauzer-shaped masterpiece of her own creation. We never knew we needed someone with Sonia's skill set in our lives, but now we know we do. Thank you Sonia for showing us the light.